In any literary text, the form is a central element and is usually linked to the content. For Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, it is definitely the case. In this book, form is a tool used to give each character a specific way to express him- or herself, therefore making them unique and more realistic. In the passage chosen for this essay, pages 120-121 (“Luckily, Milagro and I […] it’s okay with me”), Luz Villaverde has her own voice and it helps define who she is, using both figures of speech such as metaphors, allusions and similes, and narrative elements. Here I will analyze these different elements and show how closely form is linked to meaning.

This passage is told from the point of view of Luz Villaverde, a young teenager. She speaks using a lot of imagery (particularly metaphors), which accentuates her youth – whereas an adult, might use more logical, objective terms and be more rational in his description. Luz is a very imaginative girl and her thoughts are filled with images; the visual elements are an important part of the way she thinks.In this passage, Luz uses multiple metaphors, for example to describe herself and her siblings: “[Milagro and I] are a double helix, tight and impervious” (p.120); “[Ivanito] is her gullible rag doll” (p.121). In the first quote, she describes the bond she shares with her twin sister, and the metaphor helps create a vivid image in the reader’s mind. In the second quote, Luz refers to Ivanito’s relationship to Felicia, clearly criticizing her little brother even though he is very young – this emphasizes the fact that she is a child herself and thinks her brother is to blame for obeying their mother, showing a biased narration.The allusion in this passage (“the summer of coconuts”, p.121) shows again that Luz is very young and uses a lot of imagery when expressing herself. It is told casually, as if it were a normal way to refer to a period of their lives. The reader knows what she is referring to as the allusion has been used before in the book, but Luz feels no need to explain it. This is a characteristic of children’s speech; they use their own terms and do not think that they may not be clear to other people.

Another example of Luz’s imagination is the simile on page 121: “[…] she looks right past us as if she could see another pair of girls just behind us.” The young girl gets into her mother’s head and tries to imagine what she sees, showing again her imaginative personality.

Many elements of the narration also contribute to building the Luz’s character. She talks and expresses her feelings very dramatically, meaning that she almost exaggerates the gravity of what she is talking about in order to have more effect on her interlocutor. To create this effect, she uses mostly parallelism; for example, “Pretty words. Meaningless words […]” (p.121); “he never saw what we saw, he never heard what we heard” (p.121); “[…] Milagro and I have a pact to ignore Mamá, to stay as far away from her as possible” (p.121). These constructions are more likely to affect the reader’s emotions about Luz’s story, making it seem more serious than it might have been (however, we cannot make this affirmation with certainty as we are dealing with a biased narrator). Similarly, Luz uses repetitions, such as: “We try to protect him but he doesn’t want to be protected” (p.121), and “They got married and had children while they were still children themselves” (p.121). These repetitions are surprising coming from a young girl; they make her sound very mature for her age (we will come back on this later). In the last example, the emphasis put on the word children is even greater with the word themselves adding on to it.

Two more narrative elements contribute to building Luz’s character for the reader. The first one is the fact that she and Milagro call their mother not-Mamá (p.121). This shows a very strong character for such a young girl – usually when children are mad at one of their parents it lasts only a short moment, and they do not go as far as Luz and Milagro do. It shows that she is a strong, intransigent person, almost unforgiving – although the reader does not blame her for it as Felicia’s inconstant behavior as a mother has already been shown multiple times, and we can imagine the impact this can have on her children. The second element is the way she expresses herself in the last paragraph of the passage. This paragraph shows Luz’s intelligence and her maturity. She says that she realizes how lucky she is to be offered an education:

“We’re studying hard so when we grow up we can get good jobs and go wherever we please. Abuela Celia tells us that before the revolution smart girls like us usually didn’t go to college. They got married and had children while they were still children themselves. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that.” (p.121)

This shows real maturity and intelligence coming from a young girl, as well as political consciousness – she knows that it is easier for her than it used to be for other girls and she wants to take advantage of it and enjoy this chance.

The last paragraph also shows Luz’s – and, indirectly, Milagro’s – intelligence through her choice of words. In a few occurrences, she uses an entire word instead of using the common abbreviation for it – veterinarian and not vet; rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses and not rhinos and hippos. She also states that her twin sister plans to be a “mycologist specializing in tropical funghi” (p.121), a very unusual dream for a child.

These figures of speech and narrative elements allow the reader to learn a lot more about Luz than he or she might initially think. Luz used to be just a child, a part of Felicia’s life and background, and she is starting to step forward as an important character in the novel. She is a very surprising character because of her imagination and her intelligence. Her personality is getting more complex to the reader’s eyes, making her seem like an important part of the story just like Celia, Lourdes and Pilar have been since the beginning of the novel. Luz’s character is now evolving from secondary to primary and, simultaneously, from flat to round.